Air - Sail Away! - Episode 110



1) Getting Started
• Have you ever been sailing? Have you been to a lake, river or ocean where boats were sailing? Try to describe the shapes of the sails you remember.

• What makes a sailboat go fast? Think of all possible answers.

• Think about the direction the sailboats were going. If the wind blows your boat along in one direction, how do you get back?

2) Going Deeper
• Can you make your own anemometer? Use it on a real or model sailboat and see what it tells you.

• Investigate other kinds of wind-powered vehicles, like wind cars or ice sailboats. What direction of travel gives you the fastest speed?

• Look at pictures of different models of sailboat (catamaran, ketch, sloop, schooner). What are the features of each design (number of sails, sail shape, sail position)?

3) Investigate With DragonflyTV
• Watch the video and see how Emmanuel and GiGi investigated sailing or give your students the results from the video (go to investigations to explore) and have them draw their own conclusions.

• How did GiGi and Emmanuel figure out the boat speed at the sailing pond?

• Emmanuel tells GiGi about the Bernoulli Principle. How does the Bernoulli Principle work when GiGi blows over the sheet of paper?

• They found that the wind speed was different on the two sides of the sail when they were on the big boat, which means the Bernoulli Principle was working. So does the air push harder against the inside of the sail or against the outside of the sail when this happens? Make a picture showing your answer.

4) Investigate On Your Own
Using Sailing or Balloons as an example, ask your students to design their own plant investigation. Here are some challenge cards to give student teams to get things rolling.